She glanced at the man sitting behind the wheel and once again wondered what he had said to Chris Negal when he had paid her a visit at the motel. Whatever it had been, he had come home with Pat's address and stated with satisfaction that Miss Nagel no longer found him quite so attractive.

Then he had asked in his blunt way if Grace would like for him to go deal with Pat.

"Oh, Alex," she had responded, close to tears. "Thank you, but I must talk with her to see what she really feels. Only Alex, would you mind terribly going with me?"

"I fully intended to do that. You're too tender and trusting for the city, Grace. Why I didn't see that in all the years we worked together, I'll never understand."

"I don't believe either one of us really knew the other back then, Alex." And she'd swiftly changed the subject, feeling that they were getting too close to ground she wasn't as yet sure she wanted to venture out on.

From there on Alex had handled everything, booking the flight, reserving a rental car, and arranging all the children's home responsibility while they were gone. Even during the flight he had kept Grace so occupied in light conversation that she'd had little time to brood over her sister. Now, here he was sitting beside her as he pulled up before the apartment house and turned to look at her, the expression on his face tender and filled with concern.

"Would you like me to go up with you now, Grace?" he asked.

"Like it? I should love it," Grace answered truthfully. "But I know it's better for Pat if she isn't confronted with both of us at once. Would you mind waiting in the car, say fifteen minutes, and then coming up?"

As she stood before the door bearing the given number, Grace's resolve to see her sister alone faded down to a flicker, then died.

"Silly," she told herself. "Silly, its only Pat." And she forced herself to knock loudly on the door.

The girl who opened the door was, and yet wasn't, Pat. Cheeks thin, complexion pale, her youth seemed gone. No smile of greeting crossed her lips and her voice when she did finally speak, sounded almost resentful. "So, you've come," she said, moving to the side for Grace to enter the ill lit, two room apartment.

"Not exactly what you're used to, I'm told," she said shutting the door behind them. "But then, I didn't have any rich boss willing to take me and my mistakes on." Her voice was so bitter that Grace didn't know how to respond.

Pat was wearing a baggy top and trousers, but even so, her condition was obvious. Grace who hadn't expected her to be so far advanced in her pregnancy could only say, "You needn't have waited so long to get in touch with me, Pat."

"It wasn't my idea to let you know at all. Chris found out where you were and went all on her own. You don't think, do you, that I'd go begging favors of you? If it were up to me, you'd never have known at all."

"You weren't considering getting rid of the child then?" Grace's asked.

"Of course I have considered it. You needn't look at me like that. After all, you aren't the one who has to carry it. You don't have to go through the pain of delivery, or watch your child grow up alone, with no father to help."

"Alex and I will help if you want us to, Pat," Grace said, her voice calm in contrast to the girl's shrill, angry one. "You don't have to be alone."

"Alex!" Pat snapped. "Who's Alex to me? I don't know him, and I don't want to know him. I don't want him to see me like this. I don't want anyone to see me! I didn't want you to see me either!"

Grace stood quietly for a moment then moved forward, purposely beginning to search the room.

"What are you doing?" the girl demanded, following her about.

"I'm looking for your suitcase," Grace said, just as she found it in the back of a small closet.

"Why?" Pat demanded. "What do you think you're going to do?"

But Grace was silently and swiftly packing the scant wardrobe, wondering vaguely as she did so what had become of all the lovely clothes that had lined the apartment closet they had shared.

"You'd best come home with Alex and me," she told her sister. "You're not able to care for yourself."

"Come home! It's your home not mine. I have no place in it. I don't want a place. All my life I've been a burden on someone. Papa didn't want me. He wanted a son. And then, after he died, I was forced on you. Now you expect me to go with you and live off of some man who is going to resent me just as you and Papa always did. Well I won't do it! I don't want to see your Alex! I don't want to see those kids again either, and I don't want them to see me!"

She had worked herself up into such an angry state that when there was a firm knock on the door she made no move, but just stood stiffly watching as Grace moved to admit her husband.

Alex sensed the friction as he stepped into the room. He could feel it in the air, see it in his wife's set, determined face, and in the young girl who stood facing him.

"Well," he said, trying to speak cheerfully, trying not to see the hostility reflected in the young girl's eyes. "Are we all set to go?"

"The suitcase is on the bed." Grace spoke in a voice that Alex recognized as one she employed when the children were being particularly difficult. "Alex I'd like you to know my sister Pat. Pat, this is my husband, Alex."

"Husband Alex," Pat mimicked. "How sweet! Not quite up to your first catch is he Grace? But then there was only one Johnny Reaves."

There was a horrible silence. Alex wondered what Grace was thinking, but she stood so quiet and stiff he didn't even want to look at her.

"I'll take the suitcase down then," he said, eager to escape the room and the emotions that the two women were generating. "I'll just wait in the car and you can follow when you're ready."

As the door shut behind him Pat's hostile eyes met her sister's and then wavered.

"Patricia Becker, I have never been more ashamed of you!" Grace found herself saying in a low, angry voice. "You can just be thankful it was Alex standing there and not Johnny Reaves. Do you think Johnny would do what Alex has done? Do you think one man in a thousand would? He's spent these last few months trying to make a motley group of children feel like they're part of a family. Part of his family. He was willing to drop his life there and come clear back here with me to see about you. He was even willing to take that child you're carrying on as one of our own if there was no other way. He's the most patient, giving man I've ever known and you have the cheek to stand there and insult him! Well, you can just stay here and work out your own problems! I'm going home where love and sacrifice are appreciated!"

"Oh, Grace, wait!" Pat cried as her older sister stormed across the room and jerked open the door. "Don't go. Please, don't go. I'm sorry. Really I am," the girl's voice caught on the last word and was followed by large raking sobs.

As they sat together on the edge of the bed, Pat's head resting on Grace's shoulder, the girl gradually regained control of her emotions.

"You just don't know what its been like," she explained. "I thought I loved Billy and I thought he loved me. I really thought we were going to get married. Then I found out about the baby and he...." she paused to steady herself again. "I couldn't tell you. You had your hands full with Kathy's children. It wasn't until just a while ago that Chris told me you had married Mr. Edwards. Honest, Gracie, she hadn't given me your message before that, or I think I should have tried to be at your wedding. I'm sorry I talked to him the way I did. Really I am. I thought you married him just to help out with the kids. I didn't realize until now that you loved him so very much."

The Gift by Rosalie Joyce may be read free on-line while it is being featured on Ongoing Tales. We remind our readers that Ms. Joyce has worked very hard to create her book and we ask that you respect her efforts. The Gift has been copyrighted © by Antelope Publishing. Those wishing to own their own copy of this uplifting romance, purchase it for a school or local library, or wishing to give it as a gift, may purchase the complete thirty chapter long story as a browser readable e-book on CD-ROM from Antelope Publishing. The CD-ROM comes with TWO books. One book with music enhancement to help set the mood for each chapter, and one book without sound, for times when a quieter read is desired.

After years of silence, Grace's older sister sends word that she is dying, and asks Grace to take care of her five children. What could Grace do but accept? Shortly thereafter her boss, Mr. Edwards, a notorious workaholic, makes a surprise proposition. If she will wed him he can have the family that his work had always denied him, and she will have the wealth that he has accumulated during his productive business years. Grace had already experienced one loveless marriage. She wasn't sure that she could endure another. Yet, for the children's sake, she told herself, there was little else she could do.

The Gift
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    by Rosalie Joyce
(Browser Readable E-Book on CD-ROM contains Music & No Sound Options)

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